TAMPA, Fla. — ZooTampa has elephants, a tiger, rhinos, and other exotic creatures. But some of its most beloved animals are the ones that call Florida home.
There are currently three Florida panthers at ZooTampa: Lucy, Mickey, and Walter.
It's easy to see panthers at the zoo; all you have to do is show up. In the wild, it is like hitting a lotto jackpot.
"Someday, a panther would be like the ultimate goal," Lisa Smith, Animal Care Supervisor of the Florida Department at ZooTampa, said.
ABC Action News reporter Michael Paluska and photojournalist Reed Moeller traveled deep into the heart of the wildlife corridor with Smith and her colleague Tiffany Burns to check motion-activated trail cameras.
"It's a lot of fun just being out away from the zoo and being outside and seeing some of this natural environment," Burns, Senior Director of Animal Programs, told Paluska.
"It's a different part of Florida than the city of Tampa, so it's cool to get out here. We don't always see the wildlife while we're here, but knowing they were here shortly before we were since we saw them on the camera is really cool," Smith said.
"People probably assume that you're always out in the wilds of Florida?" Paluska said.
"But that's not the case. It's very rare for us to get out. We do a lot of manatee work out in the field. But outside of that, we're pretty much at the zoo every day," Burns said.
ZooTampa is less than a year into a new partnership with the fStop Foundation, a non-profit founded to raise awareness about conservation and the Florida wildlife corridor. The fStop Foundation has 160 cameras spread out across Florida, most in the South, near the Everglades, Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge, Big Cypress, and along the spine of the wildlife corridor.
"I've been in the Florida bush for about nine years. I've seen one Panther with my eyes a quarter mile away as I was driving on a trail, and it just scurried across," Freund said. "And I almost crashed the Jeep because I was reaching for my camera, and it was gone.
So, the possibility of people seeing a real-life Panther or bear in the wild is very, very difficult, right? It probably won't happen ever.
Motion-activated trail cameras level the playing field. They can take hundreds of pictures over a month (the average battery life). Field techs then have to go into the field to service them, download the video, add fresh batteries, and move cameras into better spots. Deep Polk County is far from fStop's home base. That's why ZooTampa is jumping in to help.
"It's an enormous help for us. We are in Plantation. It's close to a four-hour drive to get up here. And for them to be able to take the whole area is a huge help for us."
"How'd they do today with their cameras?" Paluska asked.
"They did awesome," Freund said. "They know what they're doing now. And we moved a couple of cameras because you always have to look around and see what's there. We could have had 10 Panthers walk behind the camera, and we'd never know."
"What's the hardest part of operating the cameras?" Paluska asked Smith.
"Just the technology. I had to learn it all so that I could teach the rest of the team and have them come out with me and get to be a part of it as well. So it's been a huge learning curve," Smith said.
"What does that mean to capture a panther on one of the cameras you check?" Paluska asked.
"It would just be super awesome," Smith said with a smile. "There aren't a lot of Panthers in this area. There aren't any breeding females in this area. So that's the goal. One day, hopefully, we do get to see that on our cameras, and that will definitely be like a super memorable day in my career."
"To say we would be excited would not nearly cover it," Burns said. "We've gotten pretty excited over little things like skunks and deer; a panther, we definitely would be telling everybody!"
And that is the ultimate reward, taking what they've learned servicing the wildlife cameras and bringing that conservation into the zoo.
"Our fStop is the awareness. Number one, helping identify where these panthers are going and trying to expand their territory is really important for their population. But it's being able to take what we've seen and that experience and tell our guests about it. It's a huge part of our job to educate our guests, and we get over a million every year." Burns said. "And, so, being able to talk about the work that fStop is doing and the work happening here in Florida to help conserve these animals."
